Hi hi, back again with something a little different. Last month there was a photography festival, Diffusion,  going on that happens every two years in Cardiff (though I only heard about it last month) and I volunteered there and went to most of the exhibitions. It was a really cool festival and really weird that it was in Cardiff just as I was on my gap year and had the time to spend there. I went to events, talks and volunteered in some of the exhibitions which was cool.
 A lot of the exhibitions were held in already existing galleries such as 3rd Floor Gallery or Turner house but others were in buildings such as those along Wood Street which are soon to be knocked down which made for interesting spaces.
So I thought I'd just share some photos and though of some of the exhibitions. The theme was Looking for America which meant there were photographers from both the UK and America, and some other places in the world, involved. I thought I'd taken more photos than I did though, but some exhibitions I have 0 photos of, even my favourite one. Oops, I'll write about them anyway.
Shaws - extra{ordinary}



This is the exhibition I spent the most time in during the festival and definitely the most engaged with. It's an exhibition by The Caravan Gallery which is comprised of two people, Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, both of whom i saw a lot of during the festival. They go around Britain (and further) in their yellow caravan taking pictures of the bizzare.
This exhibition is exploring Britain looking at it past the signs and tourist information brochures. It's a really funny exhibitions in a lot of ways and looking round it's just what Britain looks like to me, ridiculous really. As people went round there was a lot of laughter and most people came out laughing.
My favourite image was the one from below, less humorous than a lot in the exhibition but I think really beautiful.
Third Floor Gallery - Detroit: Unbroken Down
 This was another favourite exhibition of mine. The work by Dave Jordano is looking at a side of Detroit many people don't see, not looking at the Ruins or abandoned building but people who are trying to make a life for themselves.
The images are very colourful and powerful, showing resilient people in a way they want people to see them.

Stadium Plaza - Moving Forward, Looking Back/Purity/ A Pink Flamingo
I also spent quite a lot of time volunteering in Stadium plaza, where there were a few different exhibitions. 
Firstly Moving Forward, Looking back by Janire Nájera looks at Spanish culture in the American South-West following the Old Spanish Trail. It's a really beautiful exhibition with information about all the people she met along the way. 
I love the images, they're so crisp and really give a feeling of the environment. 
Next is Purity by David Magnusson (below) which I (and my family) found to be really creepy. It's about the tradition in the Southern states of america of Daughters promising their fathers they will be pure until marriage. Some girls as young as 5 or 6 are pictured after their purity balls, where rings and vows are exchanged, in some very eerie (in my opinion) photos. Magnusson, saw it in a different way seeing these men as just fathers trying to protect their daughters. But at the the end of the day I don't think girls as young as 6 can really say they can promise this. 
Lastly there is Pink Flamingo by Jack Latham, this was my favourite off all the exhibitions in stadium plaza because I just loved the images. Especially the night time ones, I love night photography.
This was an exhibition following the Oregon trail where people travel from east to west in search of a better life and was a beautiful exhibition. There was amazing scenery as well as other imagery really setting the scene. 

The 'Stute-Land Ends / State Side /  Appalacian Coal Camps
The 'Stute was sort of the HQ for volunteers, where we'd meet in the morning and find out where we were going but there were some cool exhibitions here including one of my favourites
I also took this photo because this light on the wall was super super cool. 
My favourite exhibition here was Lands End by Melissa Moore which was an exhibition from her time in Hornby Island and it had some beautiful imagery including this one of an interior space with a window in the shape of an eye which was beautiful. The images felt warm and homely and filled me with Wanderlust. 
Customs house - Hidden Presence
Hidden Presence, a work inspired by  Nathaniel Wells' life who's father was a slave owner and who's mother was a slave. This set of images was by Eva Sajovic and Julian Germain working in Wales and St Kitts looking at colonialism, slavery, migration and industry.
The exhibition was held in an abandoned building (well mock abandoned mainly thanks to Dr who) which I think fitted well with the images and made for a very interesting exhibition space.
Turner House - And Now it's Dark
I don't have any pictures of this, but inspirationally (for my own photography) this was my favourite exhibition. A joint exhibition including Jeff Brouws, Will Steacy, and Todd Hido it focuses on how light transforms the darkness and I just love all of the images in this work. Todd Hido's was probably my favourite focusing on people and how the darkness changes from dusk onwards. 
As I'm doing night photography for my project at the moment these images struck me the most as inspiration, especially the way that colour and light is used in the images.
Cardiff  Pride of Place Project
Here we're starting and ending with work from The Caravan Gallery. I love the Pride of Place project, it looks at taking submissions from local people as an ever growing exhibition; well for the month it was there at least. And I did go back as the month progressed to see the project growing and it was great to see. It really showed Cardiff the way I saw it and put humour into it too.
There were maps on the wall of Cardiff where people wrote memories of certain places, walls full of images of Cardiff (I put some up for Cardiff Pride) and even a little rack or home made souvenirs, which was my favourite part of this project.
People did keep coming in thinking it was a tourist office and weirdly enough it kind of worked as an alternative tourist office which I thought was equally brilliant. I know The Caravan Gallery do have a book out of another Pride of Place project so I hope they bring one out for the Cardiff one because I would love to buy one.
So yeah, the festival seemed to be over like that. There are so many other exhibitions I could write about but I don't want to go on too much. You can get more information and read more about the artists and exhibitions on the Diffusion Website. Hopefully this has been a good post for you, I cheated slightly on the timings posting it before midnight when it took me another twenty mintues to complete (oopsies) but I wanted to keep my every three days thing whilst also going and enjoying bonfire night.
But yeah I'll see you guys next time!
Thanks for reading!
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The fonts are doing something weird in this post and I don't know how to fix that, sorry.